The end of a provincial funding stream could trigger staffing changes in Southwestern Ontario’s largest public school board as it drafts its own budget and awaits news of its provincial funding for the next school year.

The Thames Valley District school board notified more than 100 staff Tuesday about potential job changes to satisfy timeline requirements stipulated by different collective agreements, director of education Laura Elliott said.

“Because of the uncertainty of our grants this year, we thought we needed to provide notices to all our program staff to make sure that we do have a balanced budget that we submit to the province by the end of June,” Elliott said.

TVDSB is expecting to know by late this month or early April the funding it will receive from the province for so-called grants for student needs (GSNs).

Another parcel of provincial money, so-called local priority funding, runs out in August. The funding allotment was handed out to every school board in Ontario two years ago. TVDSB used it to hire a variety of different positions, including educational assistants and other support staff.

“With the uncertainty of our GSNs moving forward, we thought this would be the opportunity for us to really reflect and think about the type of support we want to provide to our schools moving forward,” Elliott said.

The London District Catholic school board is also looking ahead to the end of its local priority funding and but has not given any notice of potential layoffs to affected staff, said human resources manager Jim Vair.

If budget decisions mean positions will be lost, layoffs will most likely be avoided through retirements or transitioning staff into new roles, Vair said. The board will wait until it receives a better picture of its finances from the province before making any moves.

Among the jobs that could be affected by the end of the one funding stream and uncertainty over the other are TVDSB’s learning coordinator positions, system-wide staff that provide support and professional development for teachers. Teachers on special assignment – instructional coaches for in-classroom teachers – may also be affected.

Though the notices warn some positions could be cut if funding isn’t available, Elliott said the board is not anticipating any layoffs.

“We are a very large district and we don’t anticipate any job losses just because of retirements, resignations and redeployments. Because we’re so large there are people moving, entering and exiting our system on any given day,” she said.

The announcement comes nearly a week after the provincial government urged school boards to freeze hiring as the education ministry deliberates on class size and hiring practice changes.

In a memo sent to school boards last Thursday, Ontario’s deputy education minister recommended boards wait to fill vacancies for retirements and other leaves for teachers and other staff until the minister issues an update by March 15.